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Another textbook project? The implementation of Escuela Nueva in Vietnam

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Abstract

This qualitative case study examines the implementation of Escuela Nueva, a rural multigrade schooling model, in Vietnam from the perspectives and experiences of local teachers and school administrators. Escuela Nueva first emerged in Colombia in the 1970s as a scalable low-cost educational innovation model that can be disseminated to other under-resourced regions around the world. Indeed, to date, the model has travelled to fourteen countries around the world, impacting the lives of over five million children. On the surface, the implementation of Vietnam Escuela Nueva (VNEN) appears to be a close reproduction of the original model. However, some aspects of VNEN in practice in fact directly contradict the principles and philosophies of the original model. Rather than encouraging more teacher autonomy, child-centered pedagogies, and local adaptation, the implementation of VNEN has reproduced the rigidity, conformity and textbook dependency that have been core features of the traditional Vietnamese education system. This points to the difficulties that can arise when attempts at scaling up educational change across borders come into conflict with local systems of reasoning, which impede the achievement of the intended outcomes.

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Notes

  1. More detail on methodology and methods is available in another publication (Le 2018).

  2. The names of both schools have been changed.

  3. In late 2015, the VNEN project suddenly became the center of media attention after an article criticizing the inefficiency of international aid to education in the country. The initial critique of the financial aspects of the project paved the way for teachers, parents, administrators, and some officials to comment and criticize the inapplicability of this model in Vietnam. For over a month, it seemed as if at least one new article on VNEN was published daily. In particular, giaoduc.net—the online newspaper covering educational issues—created an official series on VNEN and invited readers from all backgrounds to contribute op-eds.

  4. These issues of textbook shortage are prevalent throughout the country and also present another major challenge in implementation (Ha Ngan, 2015).

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the constructive comments provided by Roseann Liu, Shervin Malekzadeh, and the editors and reviewers of this special issue to support this paper through its various iterations. This project was partially funded by Swarthmore College, PA, USA.

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  1. International Education Policy, University of Maryland – College Park, 1001 Spring St, Apt 507, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA

    Hang M. Le

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Le, H.M. Another textbook project? The implementation of Escuela Nueva in Vietnam. Educ Res Policy Prac 17, 223–239 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-018-9230-x

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